Why not bring the Home Care providers into the hospitals to give families and patients the opportunity to plan for their own return home?

Accompanying the growth of retail shops and other services for the patient can be a Home Care store staffed to match visiting hours 7 days a week. The store should advise on all aspects of home care, telecare, live in care and even end of life. And it can provide assessment visits to people’s homes, recommending adaptations and aids for when the patient comes home.

This could be a very positive answer to the gap between the acute sector and primary care sector. The meeting of 2 systems in one building can be the missing link to the integrated care system that is talked about (the “Grail” for excellent individual patient care).

There is such a service being trialled in the Mid Essex Hospital trust, focussed on social service users and paid for by social services – since the Home Again service began there have been no fines for bed blocking because there are no blockers. For example 8 Patients last weekend were safely being cared for at home over the weekend rather than having to remain in hospital. Of course Wales don’t have fines but we do have blockers.

David Nicholson’s quote is 25% of all patients in hospital shouldn’t be there – here is a way to make sure that those patients who don’t want to be there can get back to heir own homes safely!

Why not bring the Home Care providers into the hospitals to give families and patients the opportunity to plan for their own return home?

Accompanying the growth of retail shops and other services for the patient can be a Home Care store staffed to match visiting hours 7 days a week. The store should advise on all aspects of home care, telecare, live in care and even end of life. And it can provide assessment visits to people’s homes, recommending adaptations and aids for when the patient comes home.

This could be a very positive answer to the gap between the acute sector and primary care sector. The meeting of 2 systems in one building can be the missing link to the integrated care system that is talked about (the “Grail” for excellent individual patient care).

There is such a service being trialled in the Mid Essex Hospital trust, focussed on social service users and paid for by social services – since the Home Again service began there have been no fines for bed blocking because there are no blockers. For example 8 Patients last weekend were safely being cared for at home over the weekend rather than having to remain in hospital. Of course Wales don’t have fines but we do have blockers.

David Nicholson’s quote is 25% of all patients in hospital shouldn’t be there – here is a way to make sure that those patients who don’t want to be there can get back to heir own homes safely!